Wow, okay, so hey guys. It's been a while, hasn't it? But since I actually just renewed my account, it was a pretty good reminder that hey, I should maybe use it.

At least part of the reason for my lapse, at least, is that I have been busy. I have three sort-of part-time jobs now, so with all three of those going on I keep pretty busy. I'm still working about 30 hours a week at Starbucks and also taking content writing packages as I can, and I am also employed giving star tours a couple of nights a week at a little B&B up south of Tucson that has a small private observatory attached. It's actually a pretty sweet deal: $25/hr for 2-3-hour tours of the night sky where all I have to do is tell the telescope where to go and it finds the object I want to show. Then all I have to do is talk about random cool astronomy things and point at things with my fancy green laser pointer and people are impressed. 8D The work isn't necessarily steady, but I did have four groups last week and two this week so it is at least not too sparse. Plus, it's something useful I can definitely put on my resume! Apparently I have gotten very good reviews, as well? (Ahaha, all this means is I've convinced people that I know what I'm talking about. I must be much better than previously thought at acting. XD)

Really, though, all of that has been keeping me pretty well occupied, especially since my hours are early in the morning at Starbucks so I have to go to bed at 8 or 9 most nights (sacrilege, I know!). They've been letting me bar more, though, which makes the time go a zillion times faster as long as we're busy, so I like that. The sensor in the Drive Thru has been broken the past two days, which means that it doesn't ding when a car pulls up and someone has to be there to watch the camera at all times, which seems to have made everyone working in that corner a little punch-drunk (and it's entertaining to watch). I am off tomorrow (yay!) and I actually have four days off next week so I am looking forward to doing random things like getting the car oil changed (okay, well, not looking forward to that but it does need to get done) and hopefully getting a trim because my hair grows fast and also possibly looking at a couple of little houses to rent up in Tucson. I've been to the U of A twice now to visit NOAO and while they can't offer me a job, they've been helpful in giving me avenues to pursue and I have been sending out some query emails. Plus, I got a good idea of where is good (and bad) to move in Tucson, so now I can really start looking for places now that I know which parts I want to try for (or avoid).

Um um um... there are a couple of other random things I've been up to but I started writing up at least one separate entry for those so in the hopes that will encourage me to POST MORE, I will leave it at that. Plus, it looks like I have five new icon slots or something crazy like that, so... I will have to get around to filling those! o/

BUT I have a star tour tonight and a bunch of other stuff to do in the meantime, so I will be going for now!

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OMG, LJ, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE. Why are all my RP comment pages now completely unreadable? I DO NOT LIKE THIS UPDATE. I hope it goes away, and soon. ;;

In the meantime, I have about a gagillion things to update on... and I don't feel like doing it right now. But I promise, promise, promise that as soon as I can I will try to post with all the stuff I've been up to!

Okay, you know what? When the book I've been scouring the internets for (and found one copy for $100 that apparently sold between when I'd bookmarked it and now) suddenly turns up on Amazon used in very good condition for $14? I AM BUYING THAT SUCKER.

It's even a first edition. I AM EXCITE.

Today is a good day to die buy books. :DDDD

And yesterday was a good day to buy other stuff, I suppose - Mom and I went into Tucson because she wanted to go to a few stores, and we passed an art festival that looked interesting so we stopped. I got some really cool necklaces made out of quarters and a present for one of my friends (whom shall remain nameless here to preserve secrecy... or something XD). Then we watched The Final Countdown, which was interesting but kind of a letdown in a The Andromeda Strain-y sort of way, and a National Geographic special on The Vatican, which was quite interesting. Then on my way home... I either almost hit or just clipped a cat who ran out onto the road RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME while I was going too fast to stop or really swerve. ;; I heard some kind of noise, but when I turned around and went back to check, there was nothing... I'm really, really hoping I only clipped it, but there was nothing else I could do to check - it was pitch black and you don't just get out of your car in the middle of the night here to go hunting around in the desert. Urgh. It had been a good day until that point, at least.

In happier news, my new camera? Is pretty cool. This little guy was sitting at least 15-20 feet away from me on the other side of a window. Isn't he cute? I know the landscaping isn't done yet (ugh, they are almost done putting in all the rock... and then I hear my aunt wants different rock so now they're going to have to cart all the new stuff away and bring new new stuff -_-) but there were all these little hummingbirds coming by every day as if to say, "Where's our food?" so I put the feeder back up for now. I guess it'll come down again sometime this week but at least they had food over the weekend!

I also got the Christmas decorations out to see what there was, and now I have a Christmas tree! It was one of those pop-up ones that was already decorated, so majorly easy! And bigger than my other tree, this one's 6 feet, I think. Now let's just hope the cats don't decide to climb it... I want to put lights up outside but with all the landscaping still going on... I guess I'd better wait.

EDIT: Okay, today is really doing well for itself. I finally won an eBay auction for a silver certificate dollar bill circulated in Hawaii during WWII! For a reasonable price! I have been trying to get my hands on one for months~ 8D

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And I am free! Ish. For the next two days. (Look, it's something, all right? XD)

Basically this weekend is my first set of two whole days off in over a week, since I covered a shift last week on Friday. I only work 20 hours next week, which is kind of nice (not from the monetary point of view, I suppose, but from the getting other stuff done in my life point of view), though it's over the course of three days which means all long shifts. But you know, now that I think about it if I have to go all the way up there, it might as well be for a good long shift, right? I think I would rather do three long shifts than five short ones. Though we'll see how I feel about that next week.

I did work both Thanksgiving and this morning, though both were short shifts (four hours) during the morning. Thanksgiving was actually a lot of fun - busy but not overwhelming. I helped hang up Christmas lights around the drive thru window (which excites me - I mean, if I have to spend a lot of time there at least I get lights!) and the shift manager wanted everyone to make "hand turkeys" (you know, where you trace your hand on paper and make a turkey out of it), which was entertaining - especially considering all we had was neon-colored paint. I also got to do a little cleaning and restocking which was a nice break from being on register the whole time. Today was busy, as expected, with a huge rush right around the time I got in and then pretty much just steady business the whole rest of the time. But at least it made the time go quickly! (Yesterday was not so busy, but it did sure drag even for four hours).

Um... as for actual Thanksgiving, Mom and I went over to Suzanne and Jerry's, who are family friends and used to know my grandparents (like everyone in the world, it's starting to seem!). They had two of their good friends over and another mutual family friend, and it was a good time - we even watched the Lady Gaga Thanksgiving special, that should tell you how cool they are (and they're in their sixties!).

On the plus side of things, the guys are not here working on the yard today so I can have the windows open. On the minus side, I spent most of the afternoon waiting for different guys to show up and run some final checks on the new AC/furnace that was installed last month, so I got home from work and couldn't shower or run until they showed up... and then they never did. They were supposed to come sometime between 1-3, but when 3:30 rolled around I tried calling the company only to find out their office was closed. I know they were supposed to come today, I confirmed the date, but by about 4 I gave up and went running and now I can go take a shower, yay! I guess I'll call and reschedule on Monday.

At least the lock-box has finally been taken off the front door so I don't have to worry about people just coming in anymore! \o/

I also just realized that my "writing" tag is misspelled. That is... so pathetic, self. PATHETIC. I should look into fixing that.

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You know what I love about perusing dear_mun? All the awesome usernames people come up with for their characters~ It's really awesome to see the same character but with so many cool and original usernames. Or maybe I just think so because I am especially bad at naming things...

New A/C has been installed and the ducts were cleaned out today, which sent poor Sokka hiding behind the washer and it took me a while to find him. Amazingly enough, Mushu was much less fazed by this process. However, no movement on the cabinets has been achieved, even though it was suggested (because that's all I ever think these things are, anymore - suggested) that Tom would be by yesterday to install doors. I guess that means I can at least put the dishes back until Monday, because there's no way he's coming by over the weekend.

And in the meantime, I am randomly bored. I really should use this time to get some writing done... I did a little bit today, yay? I figure if I just keep plugging away at it... something will happen. :D; I am actually reading a really good book now, though - well, okay it's not really good in terms of amazing writing, but I am entertained nonetheless and sometimes I think that's all I really need from a book. Either way, maybe I'll read some tonight, too - I meant to read one chapter last night and I ended up reading three, I think. Eheh.

I have also finally managed to fill up 195 userpic spaces. I suppose this really doesn't surprise me. I do so love icons~ And speaking of icons - totally stupid, but I was scrolling through my userpic page and these two just happen to be across from each other like so:

I don't know, I just find it amusing. XD

Current Mood: bored

Current Music:The Naked & Famous - Young Blood

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Hrm, so let's see... not a terribly exciting past few days, but that's really okay, right? I've been working on my resume some more and also updating my website - right now I'm still using my UF webspace but I have considered getting a domain of my own. I figure right now, though, free is much better! I spent the day yesterday shopping with Mom; all I really got was a dress that I can use for graduation, but considering I needed one, that's not so bad. Today I... slept, but I think that's because I kept getting woken up early so by the time my alarm actually went off, I still felt exhausted and went back to sleep for another few hours. I still got up at 11, though, which is much better than 3.

Um... other than that, nothing terribly exciting, I don't think. I think the neighbors have arrived next door, which isn't so bad, though they were doing a lot of yardwork today. But the weather has turned really nice, in the 80s so I can sit with the doors and windows open if I want and it's not too hot or too cold. Still no word as to when the cabinets in the kitchen will get doors, but I've given up and started putting things in them anyway. I'll just move everything again when the final stuff gets done. I think some of Mom's friends may be using the house this weekend so I may have to go stay with her for a day or two, but they'll just have to deal with the clutter.

And totally useless to anyone but me, but I sat down and made myself a pretty profile (well, using someone else's code, but still!) and learned how to use tiny icons so things look all cool on my journal and flist now. :D; Yeah, totally not a big accomplishment, but I've been meaning to do it for a while.

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It is WINDY today. You know that blustery day in WInnie The Pooh? That appears to be the state of Arizona today!

It's been a BUSY couple of days. Tuesday we got the countertops in (OMG YAY) and the rest of the cabinets in; yesterday the plumber came by (two hours earlier than I was expecting >>) and hooked up the sink and the dishwasher - I have never been happier about modern conveniences in my entire life. So I have been steadily washing dishes, though I really have noplace to put them - the cabinet shelves are in, but not the drawers or doors. Soooo the kitchen still remains a bit of a work in progress, but it is so much nicer with the countertops and sink!

And on to this morning! Mom and Aunt Nancy had me list some pieces they wanted to sell on Craigslist last night, and I had a buyer come by this morning and pick them up. (In fact, Aunt Nancy was so happy to get those pieces out of here that she said I could keep the money from the sale. No complaints here!) Of course, while that was ongoing, the guys showed up with the new couch my aunt had ordered for the kitchen eat-in area, so there was quite a bit of shuffling. Then, just when I thought all was calm, the pest control guy showed up and sprayed the house (which is good, there are a lot of little bugs that seem to think this is their home). NOW I think I'm finally off the hook for the rest of the day, though Mom wants me to come over and organize some of the stuff I have in her garage and she also has the book I just ordered and hopefully a check for me from Aunt Nancy for watching the house so I can pay my health insurance this month. WHEW.

Livejournal is still being slow, but such is the way of things when they try to fix things, I've learned. Ah well. Maybe I can get some writing done today, or work some more on my resume. (Yayyyy... yeah, that would be sarcasm.) I do also want to make myself a new webpage and get myself out there, writing- and even science-wise. I don't know how long my webspace at UF is going to last, but I might as well take advantage of it while I can!

All of this, and I STILL NEED A JOB, YO.

Current Mood: busy

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The guys are here to do the countertops, yay! I WILL HAVE FLAT SURFACES IN THE KITCHEN AGAIN~ Sink and dishwasher will definitely be completed tomorrow. I also spent quite a while on the phone with my aunt this morning, who was very helpful and supportive about job searching and suggested looking into things like freelance writing, looking for job postings for technical writing, communications, and PR, because companies always need people to write up things for them and that might be much more enjoyable than doing straight scientific research. I agree with this assessment, because I would much rather spend my life writing than just about anything else. So at least that's a good place to start! I will still be looking into (and probably applying for) some of those planetarium jobs, but at least this is somewhere else to start looking, which is very helpful and much better than sitting around and bemoaning the fact that I don't know what I want to do, right? XD

Haha, it's like a roller coaster ride, geez. Life, what are you.

And hey, I even found a prompt or two over at capkink I might feel like filling. Yay?

All right, now I have to go keep an eye out for the landscaping guy and waylay him until Mom gets here to tell him what she wants done. Gee, it's almost like I actually own a house... except I don't. XD

Okay, but FTW, the guy installing the countertops totally recognized that the vanity plate on my car is from DS9. That is awesome. 8D